Delivered
Expecting parents are told to prepare for the highest highs, but how about the lowest lows? Or the moments of uncertainty in between? The postpartum period is filled with mental and physical challenges that are sidelined in many public conversations about parenthood. In the two-episode special “Delivered,” Embodied opens up conversations about the under-discussed parts of pregnancy and childbirth, from the stigma around postpartum bodies to the mental health challenges experienced by non-birthing parents.
This special has two episodes, The Postpartum Body and Postpartum Mental Health. Each episode can be aired alone or together and feature many listener voices highlighted through musically-scored montages. See the episodes tab for full descriptions.
About Embodied
Sex and relationships are intimate — and sometimes intimidating to talk about. In this award-winning show from North Carolina Public Radio WUNC, host Anita Rao guides us on an exploration of our brains and our bodies that touches down in taboo territory.
Host
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is an award-winning journalist and the host and creator of "Embodied," a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships & health. She spent six years as a producer and managing editor for North Carolina Public Radio WUNC’s flagship daily talk show “The State of Things.” During that time she also created and co-hosted “She & Her,” a podcast about millennial feminism in the South and served as the editor for the narrative podcast “The Double Shift,” a podcast about changing the status quo of motherhood in America. She started her career in journalism in the Peabody-Award-winning StoryCorps production department. Anita identifies as a mixed-race Indian-American woman and uses she/her pronouns.
Length
Two, one-hour episodes
Show Clock
Digital Assets
Download the Embodied logo for web and social media.
ContentDepot File Transfer
Audition audio available: March 15, 2023
Promo spot available: March 15, 2023
Program rundown available: March 3, 2023
Date content will be uploaded: March 15, 2023
Broadcast Window
April 1, 2023 - May 31, 2023
Broadcast Rights
Affiliate stations may carry this program multiple times before June 1, 2023. The program must be carried in its entirety. No excerpting is permitted. Simulcast streaming rights are available for this program. Prior to carrying this program, stations must contact their American Public Media Station Relations Representative.
Episode 1: The Postpartum Body
In the Postpartum Body, host Anita Rao interviews folks about the physicality of birth and meeting their new postpartum bodies. Doula Lydia-Carlie Tilus talks about her trauma-informed approach to postpartum care; photographer ash luna shares how they’ve used the 4th Trimester Bodies Project to diversify the images people associate with postpartum bodies; and former active duty Marine Letticia Solomon talks about navigating the pressures of a highly physical job postpartum.
Episode 2: Postpartum Mental Health
In Postpartum Mental Health, Rao explores the cultural silence around postpartum mental health. She talks with A’Driane Nieves, an artist whose postpartum depression catalyzed a mental health journey and Bipolar II diagnosis, and married couple Shannon Purdy Jones and Darren Jones. The Joneses share how they’ve navigated their sex life and relationship postpartum and why they firmly believe that the mental health of non-birthing partners should be a more prominent part of the postpartum conversation.
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